HELIOS TOWERS NIGERIA

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Helios Towers Nigeria provides fully-managed tower sites for the telecoms industry in Nigeria. We spoke to CEO Inder Bajaj about keeping Nigeria connected.

Writer Hannah Eiseman-Reynard Project manager Donovan Smith

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elios Towers Nigeria puts up and maintains telecoms towers for the telecoms industry, providing an impressive guaranteed 99.99 percent uptime to clients, despite an average of just two hours grid time per day.

Founded in 2006, this Nigeria-based company builds, manages and rents tower infrastructure structures to mobile network operators (MNOs) and internet service providers (ISPs) to host their antennas, base stations and transmission equipment.

Helios Towers Nigeria’s management of towers includes security, the supply of power, batteries, air-conditioned equipment shelters and rectifiers,

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After site acquisition it takes 60 days for a new tower to be operational and it takes 30 days to acquire a site, so it’s only 90 days total for a brand new site”

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as well as on-site support in the event of any problems to ensure the guaranteed uptime.

Clients – telecoms companies – use the towers on a rental and lease basis and Helios Towers Nigeria has achieved an impressive average 2.8 clients per tower referred to as Colo Ratio.

“Essentially we are a telecoms infrastructure company and we invest in and manage our own infrastructure,” says CEO Inder Bajaj.

Helios Towers Nigeria commenced operations in 2006 and is the oldest and largest independent tower company in the country.

Key customers include global system for mobile (GSM) companies MTN, Airtel and EMTS. The sector is growing and moving fast.

“Nigeria has around 25,000 towers and the number is growing by three to four thousand every year,” Mr Bajaj says.

Helios Towers Nigeria owns and runs around 1,300 and is putting up around 600 new towers per annum.

“We are a Greenfield operation, specialising in new sites and putting them up speedily,” says Bajaj. “After site acquisition it takes 60 days for a new tower to be operational and it takes 30 days to acquire a site, so it’s only 90 days total for a brand new site. We ensure delivery within five to six days to be operational for second and third customers. That is a key differentiation we offer to our customers apart from the uptime.

We have a sister company Helios Towers Africa which operates in Ghana, Tanzania and the DRC.” According to Bajaj, many telecoms companies in Nigeria are currently in the process of “commencing their process for sales and leaseback off towers to tower companies” and it “is expected to happen over the next two years.”

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Telenoetica limited

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elenoetica limited caters to the business needs of Telecom Operators, Tower companies and OEMs, through its services, solutions and products offerings. Established in July 2009, we have been recognized by our expertise and intent to deliver world-class solutions and services to our evergrowing list of clients.

With a vision to add tangible value to diverse sectors across Africa, Telenoetica started business by supplying LED (Light Emitting Diode) based 48 V DC Aviation warning Lights and Telecom site security lights for tier 1 telecom operators. Today we are the single largest manufacturer/supplier of LED based lights with more than 6000 such Lights installed in Year 2012/2013 and another 10000 Lights targeted for sale in 2013/2014 including our innovative 220 V AC powered LED lights for other sectors such as Banking, Oil and Gas and other SMEs. Over the years we have added wide range of Telecom Infrastructure solutions which save energy and help in containing OPEX such as Intelligent Power Management and Hybrid management systems, Li Ion batteries, DC Generators, DC Air conditioners, Modular Rectifiers and Modular Invertors.

We started our telecom projects division in 2011 and have since been performing

Turnkey Site Build services, Collocation upgrades, Radio Access Technology upgrades, RF optimization services, Site Audit and advance site data collection and Analytic services.

Telenoetica added the pioneer service of telecom equipment Test and Repair in 2013 and has quickly gained immense confidence of Tier 1 telecom operators and tower companies. While in-country repairs looked a distant dream, we championed this service with a very high success rate of incountry repairs.

We also realized that sophisticated OPEX saving concepts such as IPMS, Solar Hybrid systems etc don’t succeed because of lack of eco-system to support their functioning. Telenoetica is providing maintenance and operational support services for these equipments and creating the necessary workforce aligned to its mission of: Partnering with world class

technology enablers and professionals

AND Engaging and developing local

resources for efficient service delivery.

Email info@telenoetica.com Email support@telenoetica.com www.telenoetica.com

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ghaddar machinery & COMPANY nigeria ltd.

We are pleased to introduce our Company GHADDAR MACHINERY & COMPANY NIGERIA LIMITED branch of GHADDAR MACHINERY (BEIRUT-LEBANON).

We are a world class Engineering Company, specializing in the distribution of PERKlNS Engines-UK and LEROY SOMER AlternatorsFrance. We rank among the top three distributors of Perkins Engines, distributing over 20,000 units worldwide.

Our quest to become a clear leader with international pedigree in the sales of Industrial Generators cannot be over-emphasized , as we have put in place state of the art equipment handled by well-trained and seasoned professionals in the Engineering & non Engineering fields.

“It’s a win-win situation as it serves our customers as a financing option and also outsourcing to specialists while they focus on other key aspects of business,” he explains.

“As the market grows, along with the leaseback sales of towers, we are positioned to increase our market percentage share dramatically. We aim to run 20-30 percent of towers in Nigeria and we aim for a very high level of customer satisfaction.”

Helios Towers Nigeria currently runs about eight percent of all telecoms base station electronics in a country whose telecoms market is growing rapidly with respect to coverage into new areas and as well as the capacity growth with usage growth in voice and data.

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With local distribution network scattered all over Nigeria, we are known to produce and service best quality Generators at very affordable prices prompting customer delight and satisfaction at all times.

As the market grows, along with the leaseback sales of towers, we are positioned to increase our market percentage share dramatically”

Innovation, quality and partnership have always been at the core of the corporate vision. This vision helped the company widen its portfolio of products while maintaining a sound image and unrivalled quality products.

Being part of the worldwide Perkins distributors’ network dedicated to providing a service of excellence to the operators of the Perkins engines, GHADDAR Machinery & CO Nig Ltd maintains an inventory of Genuine Perkins Spare Parts, renowned for their reliability and durability.

Tel +234 1 7765926 Email drm@ghaddarnig.com

www.ghaddar.com

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The secret to Helios Tower Nigeria’s success is that it hasn’t been afraid to invest big in its own infrastructure.

“To run a successful service, grid availability is vital,” Bajaj says. “In Nigeria we have only two hours a day of electricity on the grid – for 22 hours To run a a day we need to create our own successful electricity and run generators.”

He goes onto explain some of the service, grid current challenges facing the availability is vital” industry: “The evolving industry means that we have to work around the infrastructure,” he says. “Providing our own electricity with systems of generators for 22 hours a day is no small task.

This is challenging and we see the Nigeria is the largest market in Africa situation improving as the country invests in power generation, having the largest customer base transmission and distribution. The of 110 million, equating to over $10 other challenge is multiple permits billion revenue per annum. and taxes by the local government, The telecom penetration is at around 60 percent and growing which state governments, as well as federal government. The industry makes the market very attractive.

and the regulator are working towards telecoms being an essential service and the simplification of permits and taxes.

“Another challenge faced in recent times is security in select areas of the Northeast of the country. Three states were declared in a state of emergency earlier this year. Having said this, the government and security agencies have been very supportive,” Bajaj says. “But the future is bright and as coverage improves, the customer take up of mobile services will increase and, usage trends being positive, the industry is expected to grow exponentially.”

Helios Towers Nigeria is making huge headway despite the challenges and one can only imagine how far it will accelerate its market share as the market grows.

The company remains one to watch.

To learn more visit www.heliostowers.com.

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E n q u i r i es Tel (UK): +44 (0) 1603 559 151

9 Alfred Rewane Road

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ben.weaver@outlookpublishing.com

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S U B S CRI P TIO N S

Nigeria

Tel (UK): +44 (0) 1603 559 144

Tel: 01-4625315

ian.armitage@outlookpublishing.com

Email: info@heliostowers.com

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Lagos

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